American experts questioned the effectiveness of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) missiles, which the United States plans to install in Eastern Europe in the immediate vicinity of the Russian borders. US President Barack Obama last year called the new generation of missile defense systems reliable and effective, but now it turns out that they are not capable of interfering with an enemy missile strike.
In September 2009, Obama announced that Washington would create a new, more economical and high-tech missile defense system to replace the one previously proposed by the George W. Bush administration. In his report, Obama relied on data from the Pentagon, according to which the SM-3 interceptor missile, which in the new missile defense system will become the main means of interception, hit 84% of targets in test trials.
However, physicist George Lewis and former Pentagon scientific adviser, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Theodore Postol believe that the analysis was carried out incorrectly and only 10-20% of targets were effectively hit, since most of the warheads were simply knocked off course, and not destroyed. The New York Times.
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As scientists write in an article in the May issue of Arms Control Today, there are no facts yet that would support evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy for the development of a national missile defense system. Note that Postol has repeatedly criticized the Bush missile defense program, calling the statements of the Missile Defense Agency false.
Scientists believe that the Pentagon's anti-missile test data and the latest unsuccessful test of a silo-based missile defense system at the end of January 2010 show the ineffectiveness of the new system. Recall that then, during the test, the anti-missile, launched from the US Air Force Base Vandenberg (California), could not destroy the training warhead, which was launched from the Kwajalein Atoll.
According to Postol and Lewis, the SM-3 in real combat conditions will not be able to hit targets in most cases. According to scientists, the tests were carried out by the Pentagon under a program that was intended to hide serious miscalculations. As noted by scientists, the SM-3 rocket also does not know how to distinguish the warhead from other objects.
According to Dr. Postol, the proposed missile defense system is extremely unreliable and can only hit targets by accident. Earlier, the expert pointed out that the problems in the guidance system of interceptor missiles had been known for a long time, but "trying to prove the effectiveness of the new missile defense system, the military resorted to banal fraud" to be distinguished from the real goal."
The Pentagon stands its ground: missiles are effective
The Department of Defense continues to insist that missiles are effective and that scientists are simply wrong. As noted by Pentagon spokesman Richard Lehner, the SM-3 performed well in test trials. Military officials say that, in conjunction with the latest generation of sensor devices and SM-3 radars, they are the most effective means of protecting against possible aggression from Iran.
Recall that during the election campaign, Obama has repeatedly criticized the missile defense proposed by the Bush administration. He promised, if elected president, to develop an anti-missile shield that would pass rigorous tests in terms of effectiveness. Describing the attractiveness of the new system, the Pentagon also stated that a single SM-3 missile would cost between $ 10 and $ 15 million - while heavy missiles cost around $ 70 million.
In turn, Postol and Lewis in their article came to the conclusion that the new missile defense system would turn out to be a bluff, on which huge funds would be spent. Recall that only on the last unsuccessful test in January, 120 million dollars were spent. Over the past 30 years, the Pentagon has spent $ 130 billion on missile defense systems.
